Even the damned have their nightmares and the Nosferatu, quite literally, embody them. Something in the Embrace, something in the blood of the Nosferatu lineage, distorts every member of the clan, twisting them in either body or aspect as deeply as the Embrace malforms their soul. A Nosferatu may display one or more physical deformities; these can range from simple to complex, from the merely repulsive or unsettling to the downright horrifying. Nothing and no one can predict what the Embrace will do to a given Noseferatu, and no two look exactly the same; some of these horrors still look completely human but are unsettling, unnerving, or just simply creepy in some intangible way. Notably, certain traits seem to follow in certain "families."

Among the deformed members of this clan, some common disfigurements are: mottled or piebald skin, attenuated or stunted limbs, club feet, hollow-cheeked, cadaverous features, total baldness, blotchy, mold-like excrescences on their skin, pointed, flapped or cauliflower ears, elongated noses (or no nose at all, just slits), needle-like fangs, broad flat tusks, blackened, split or claw-like fingernails, a multitude of warts, skin that is grey, green or blue, eyes that bulge or that are yellowed, red, solid black or pallid white. Their skin may sag or bulge, look rubbery or leathery, like translucent parchment, or be deeply wrinkled with prominent, ropey veins. All these deformities and more may appear in any given Nosferatu. And then there is the smell. Not all Nosferatu have a particularly offensive odor, but some smell like death or rotting flesh, feces, or like graveyard mold or acid. Sometimes this is just an unavoidable result of where they choose to make their havens.

Nosferatu tend to dwell apart from most other Kindred or humans, choosing as their lair or haven the kinds of places others do not wish to go, or even fear to go. The abandoned places, undesirable places, places as shunned as the Nosferatu themselves: sewers, storm tunnels, abandoned subways, crumbling access tunnels, sub-basements, steam tunnels, abandoned or "haunted" houses, attics and storage rooms, mausoleums, crypts and catacombs -- any place that sees few, if any, visitors. Some have the influence and wherewithal to turn their lairs into vast warrens filled with traps to deter or kill the unwary intruder.

Nosferatu are sometimes called Haunts.

Weakness

All Nosferatu are repulsive or at the very least uncomfortable to be around. The cause need not be a physical deformity. A palpable aura of menace, a charnel odor or the undeniable manner of a predator is just as compelling as a twisted body. With regard to dice pools based on Presence or Manipulation Attributes in social situations, the 10-again rule does not apply. Additionally, any 1’s that come up on a roll are subtracted from successes. (This latter part of the weakness does not affect dramatic failure rules.) This weakness does not apply to dice pools that involve the Intimidation Skill, or to the Composure Attribute.